Mr. Vargas joined Rhône in 2007 as a Senior Advisor and became a Managing Director in 2017. In April 2021, Mr. Vargas stepped down as a Managing Director of the firm and returned to his role as a Senior Advisor while serving as Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rhône Fund V portfolio company Maxam. Mr. Vargas reprised his role as Managing Director effective as of January 1, 2024, concurrent with his move to Rhône’s London office and his resignation as Chief Executive Officer of Maxam. He has joined Rhône’s Executive Committee and has assumed a leadership role in Rhône’s European operations. He will remain Executive Chairman of Maxam as part of Rhône’s continued oversight of its investment.

Prior to becoming a Managing Director in 2017, he served as the Chairman and CEO of Aena SME, S.A. leading its restructuring, partial privatization and IPO in 2015. Prior to joining Aena, he held senior management positions at Vocento S.A., where he served as CFO until his promotion to CEO. Before his tenure in the communications sector, he was the CFO and General Secretary of JOTSA (part of the Philipp Holzmann Group).

In addition to Mr. Vargas’s role as an Executive Chairman of Maxam, he also serves on the Board of Directors of Fluidra S.A., ASK Chemicals, part of Rhône’s portfolio, and Petra Diamonds. Over his career, Mr. Vargas has also served on the Board of Directors of several other companies, including Aena, Vocento, Diario ABC, Cadena COPE, Net TV, Diario El Correo and Wellbore Integrity Solutions. In 2015, he was awarded ‘Best Executive of the Year’ by the Spanish Association of Executives (AED) and acknowledged as ‘Person of the Year’ within the Economic and Financial world by ‘El Economista’ (Spanish Financial Outlet).

Mr. Vargas earned degrees in Economics and Business from Complutense University of Madrid and holds a law degree from UNED. He is also a Chartered Accountant.